Many industries require the use of costly materials that can easily be contaminated or otherwise rendered unsuitable for use through improper handling or through storage container failure. Unfortunately “minor” failures in a storage container or improper handling often go undetected until the use of a material corrupted by such a failure or by improper handling causes problems at a later point in a production process. Even when material corruption is detected prior to use, having to dispose of an entire container of a costly material is undesirable. As a result, less efficient smaller containers are generally used to transport such materials so that contamination of the material within a container has minimal impact. Unfortunately, the use of small containers may tend to increase production costs, possibly as a result of the added complexity caused through the use of larger numbers of small containers rather than fewer larger containers.
Spin-on-glass is a costly material that is generally transported in containers able to hold a gallon or less of spin-on-glass. Spin-on-glass containers are typically bottles comprising a single threaded opening into which a cap/plug is inserted during transportation and storage, and into which a dip tube assembly coupled to a hose or pipe fitting is inserted while the spin-on-glass is being extracted from the bottle. Contamination of spin-on-glass often occurs because of the introduction of dried spin-on-glass (typically dried because it was exposed to air) into a container during removal of a seal cap or insertion of a dip tube assembly. Removal of a seal cap may introduce dried spin-on-glass into the container because very small leaks may form in the seal area where the cap/plug is inserted into the storage bottle with such leads causing dried spin-on-glass to accumulate in the seal area. Subsequent removal of the cap/plug may result in the dried material falling into and containing the contents of the container. Insertion of a dip tube assembly may introduce dried material if the dip tube assembly was previously used in another bottle of spin-on-glass and material dried on the dip tube assembly while it was being moved between bottles.
Spin-on-glass is sensitive to temperature, so corruption may also occur during transportation or storage as a result of not maintaining the spin-on-glass at an appropriate temperature. Although known devices and methods are capable of monitoring the temperature of the environment surrounding a container such as a bottle containing spin-on-glass, such monitoring is often inadequate because the environment surrounding a container does not accurately reflect the environment within the container.
Thus, regardless of whether the deficiencies described were previously recognized, there has been and continues to be a need for improved methods and devices for the storage and transportation of high purity materials.